Hefty buying in BFSI stocks strengthens Rupee

Mumbai: Rising for the second straight session, the rupee surged by 29 paise to close at 74.05 against the US dollar on Monday amid robust buying in domestic equities. At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened strong at 74.15 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.03 and a low of 74.21. It finally settled at 74.05, a rise of 29 paise over its previous close. In the previous session, the rupee had settled at 74.34 against the US dollar.

"Rupee traded strong as capital market gains mainly financial sector performance helped rupee appreciation. Dollar traded muted in back of mixed non-farm payroll data and jobless claims, keeping less pressure on rupee as rupee digested the strong banking rally. Range for the rupee can be seen between 74.00-74.40," said Jateen Trivedi, senior research analyst at LKP Securities.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.19 per cent to 95.90.